PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

[28] Hypothyroidism and cretinism in childhood.-I. P. BRONSTEIN and ANDREW W. BROWN. Amer. Jour. Orthopsychiat., 1934, 4, 412. TWENTY hypothyroid children of various types who were being actively treated with thyroid extract were given repeated psychological tests over a period from one to five years to determine by quantitative measurements both the amount and nature of their mental growth. There was evidence that early recognition and persistent treatment thereafter was the important factor in ultimate mental development. All cretins if treated are not predestined to a fixed low mental age. Some of them may reach at least a mental age of 12 years. Most of these children have intelligence ratings between 50 and 70 and if treated will probably have at maturity a mental age between seven and nine years. Some cretins continue to show growth up to 14 years of age. Whether the increment of intellectual growth is constant throughout the entire growth period can be determined only by following these cases over a longer period of time. Children who have normal birth and developmental histories but who develop thyroid deficiency later in life following a specific or a series of non-specific infections (juvenile hypothyroidism) progress successfully mentally if properly treated. C. S. R.